We made it!

How does she have internet?

I'm in the main city, Malabo.

I was wrong about the email address- it's moabaturtles@gmail.com.. so please don't use the other one. And make sure that when you email me, you include your return email address in the actual email so I can email you back.

Thanks! Bye! Xoxo,

-S

Leaving, on a Jet Plane

I'll be back in March..

Going to study and research sea turtles on the remote southern portion of an island called Bioko off the coast of West Africa. It's for my co-op at Drexel, and I'll be living in tents with five other people. I'll poo in holes I've dug, and shower in one of the three waterfalls within a 5 minute walking distance from camp. During the night I'll be on "turtle watch"- pittagging and taking blood samples, while during the day I'll be adventuring, rock climbing, hiking, and fishing for food. It'll be a long six months, and I already miss some of my favorites from Philly: Mango, Rob, Bea, Em, Diego.. not including the fam in CA, and friends I've neglected to mention.

If you'd like to email me, email me with my name in the subject title at bioko.moaba@gmail.com.. or be my friend on facebook: "Bioko Moaba."

See ya on the flip side!
-S

oh, I'm finally uploading all the Costa Rica photos on flickr.com/photos/sunshinosaur.

Palin

Oh my god this woman is insane.

Goodness

I'm horrible at maintaining these jawns.

Let me leave you with my favorite sunset in Costa Rica:

It´s about 9:30pm

Update: I´m in Panama! I think they are about to close this internet cafe down for the night, so I´ll make it snappy.

On a whim I decided that after heading down to the southern Caribbean side of Costa Rica I´d keep on going and camp out in Panama for a few nights on this wonderful island called Bocas del Torro.

Okay, they really are closing.

xoxo,
s

Santa Teresa/Mal Pais, CR

So I´m blogging and catching up, since it´s been a few days. I´ll start from the present and work my way backwards.. so scroll down to read fresh journals!

This morning Bea and I had a long talk.. about her ditching me and blah blah blah. Not sure if it´s safe to post out on the world wide web. Whatever, though.. shouldn´t be hidden to be fair to all parties. Our conversation consisted of me in Swiss guy´s room, sitting on the floor.. and Bea laying on the bed, facedown. I told her how I felt like I was being ditched and replaced, and she really didn´t say anything in particular- only that ´wasn´t I acting like the girl I had traveled with before, saying how I didn´t want to do things or go anywhere with anyone?´***Boy did that frustrate me. I just didn´t feel comfortable with her and that Swiss dude, bottom line. She knew that and continued to hang out with him, therefore choosing him over me. That hurts.

Anyways, I´m in Mal Pais right now and it´s gorgeous. Internet is expensive- an hour is about three dollars, so I´ll type quickly. I took the taxi with the kids from London, and then the bus to the hostel here. I had some great nectarines for lunch, and three cups of coffee for breakfast. The place we´re staying at here is really great and has loads of hammocks. We found a cat in the bathroom with an iguana in it´s mouth, and we later saw the cat sans iguana.. alternatively puking and dry heaving in front of us. Funny stuff.

I´m going to finish blogging the past few days and then hit the beach again.
Ciao!
-S


***disclaimer***
Johanna was a great travel buddy, and although we had our moments, I love her.
[14:53] johanna: please tell bea i had my reasons for behaving the way i did. i dont want her or anybody else to think of me as the "girl who didnt wanna go anywhere or do anything". i didnt do it to annoy anyone. i should have talked about it instad of doing what i did. but i did have very good reasons.
[14:53] sunshinosaur: i can take it out if you want! i dont want you to seem like a horrible buddy, cause you werent!
[14:55] johanna: well yeah i know she doesnt know me but tell her anyways and maybe Ill tell you about everything too. :) someday in berlin.

ps- I´m going to visit this baby girl in Berlin.

Montezuma, day two.

Woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise.

Bea and Swiss guy and Canadian girl wanted to go to this waterfall, but I didn´t really want to be around those two (not Bea), so I declined. The Canadian girl was too loud and obnoxious for me, and that Swiss dude and Bea made me really uncomfortable. She knew that.

They left and I walked down the beach the same way we all walked down it yesterday. Oh, before that though I stopped at this little bookshop and exchanged my book I got when I traded with a guy in Monteverde in exchange for a chic thang called Chasing Harry Winston. She also wrote The Devil Wears Prada. I also picked up a thing of cookies and water from the supermarket. Walking down the beach I picked up lots of great seashells. I got yelled at by a guy from his porch- he said that this was a natural reserve. I was going to retort with ´well then, why is there so much garbage?´but decided against it. Seriously, the beaches are great, but with the last storm a lot of plastic garbage was washed up on the beaches.. so it looks horrible. I even saw two syringes among the trash! It took me about an hour to walk to where it took us 35 minutes with our surfboards yesterday. I went all the way to La Playa Grande, hung out there on the beach by myself for a few hours.. and then went back to the waterfall I passed earlier.

There was this guy who passed by me in the morning, and he seemed to be waiting for me on the trail. When I passed by him he followed me and tried to talk to me in really fast spanish. We held a long conversation that consisted of many subjects such as: my boyfriend, why my boyfriend wasnt in Costa Rica, why I couldn´t have two boyfriends, why I was travelling by myself, why I didn´t want his weed, etc. etc. It´s great being a girl, isn´t it? When I got to the waterfall I said a hearty Adios! and meandered off the trail. I sat in the water a while and explored lots, eventually settling on a little runoff stream where I made bracelets by knotting thread. Great fun. People came by and swam, and I was about to leave when I hear this obnoxious (and quite loud) hooting coming from above. I look up and there was this black monkey, I´m assuming he was a howler monkey. As I look further I see two spider monkeys hanging and swinging all over the place. They were so cute! Once it got too dark to see them I headed back into town.

Oh, on the walk over to the beach I saw a really cool iguana. He was just sitting on the trail, looking up at me with his super bright green body and olive green tail. He was pretty impressive and also quite enormous. I was thrilled.

I got back into town and got some food for dinner- chick peas, tortillas, and an avocado, yum! I passed by a pizza restaurant and where I saw Bea and Swiss dude. She told me she had some extra pizza that she was going to give me, but it had cheese on it. I went back to the hostel where I had my yummy dinner and played with this great dog that I named Luna. She´s a medium sized dog with big ears and a long muzzle. Her coat is all black, minus his paws which look like they´ve been dipped in mud. She loves chasing cars, which scares me to death.. but never runs into them and always ran back to me, sitting in the hammock. I played cards with the four kids from London, two guys from South Carolina, and a guy from Germany. There are lots of travelers from Germany, btw. It´s good, because I enjoy practicing my German and being complimented on my accent.

I went to sleep, alone. I didn´t see Bea the rest of that night.. the dog tried to follow me up to my room and I fed her the rest of the dog food I had (yes, I carry that around with me), and my last tortilla.

See ya,
-S

Monteverde, day one.

We rented some surfboards today and went surfing at 8am!! The walk over there wasn´t fun at all, but teaching yourself how to surf is quite entertaining to say the least.

Earlier in the day the waves were pretty strong, and I had no problem catching them.. I just had loads of trouble trying to stand up. Pretty soon some guys from Chico, CA (I lived there a year in the third grade) came by. They were carrying surfboards, and they were naked. We kinda talked while trying to surf (they had never surfed before either, hah), and talked about Chico and coconuts, and Costa Rica. We drank coconut juice from ripe and unripe coconuts- the latter is nasty as hell.

I got pretty dark- we stayed there probably until 3pm.. and then started heading back into town to get some food. We all said we´d meet up at this waterfall swimming hole deal that´s on the beach inbetween the beach we were surfing at and the town of Monteverde. Bea and the four kids from London, Ger, Bee, Gav, and Robbie walked ahead since I´m a slow walker. I realized I forgot my flip flops in the sand, and ran back to get them. When I got to the waterfall no one was there.. I stayed and swam around for a little bit, and who showed up but those three naked boys, Reggie, Brian, and Chase. They were wearing clothing, though. We walked back to town and I went into touristy shops while they ate dinner. We hung out with a couple of beers and watched the nightly lightening storm across the gulf. Amazing. There was a soccer (fútbol) game going on up on top of the hill, and we went up to watch.

Later on that night we went to the only bar in town- Chico´s. I finally saw Bea and we all hung out. Everyone was pretty drunk, and I was just okay.. so I entertained myself by playing with this stray dog that followed us into the bar. He was real fun, and so we gave each other lots of attention. I went and sat outside and played with the pooch. Bea came, and we talked. The three boys came, and we talked. The Swiss dude came, and Bea and him went back to the hostel. I followed a couple minutes later. I hung out on the hammock for a little bit and watched more lightening, and then went to sleeep.

-S

Monteverde to Montezuma

Oh man, I´m running out of time on this internet guy. It´s so expensive!

Anyways, we woke up early this morning to catch the 6am bus to the ferry, which took us to a city, which took us on a bus to Montezuma. The place where the ferry departed from was pretty.. okay. We walked for a while to the ferry place, since i thought it was pointless to catch a taxi for such a short distance. We met two German guys and a Canadian dude on the ferry. I talked to them while Bea slept.. um.. sorry, I feel pressured for time. The little ticker is on the bottom right of my screen and is driving me insane.

Last night was something else. We all sat outside playing silly games for a bit and got pretty drunk. THEN we went to the bar and hung out. Andrew kept wanting to buy us drinks, Danny acted quite goofy, and Bea was accepting the drinks. I told Andrew he could get me a juice since he was so insistent. It was delicious. My dog, Honey followed me into the bar later on that night- and after playing with her I decided that she needed a serious bath.

So, intoxicated me tells everyone good night, goes back to the hostel and sneaks Honey into my room. We make it into the shower, and it turns out that this dog hates water. I´ll be it was a hilarious sight- a girl getting soaked while pinning a poor dirty dog inbetween her legs, and scrubbing it down with soap- organic and all natural soap, btw. I got her clean, just in time for Bea and Danny to walk in and see her and the soaking wet bathroom floor. I fed her some dinner, and then another guy sleeping in the dorm kicked her out as we were falling asleep. I said goodbye to her this morning, though- no worries.

Andrew comes back late late at night, drunk off his ass. He keeps wanting to talk to me and to tell me about this gay Tiko (Costa Rican guy) who wanted to pet his hair. I for one, just wanted to sleep. In hindsight, Andrew was pretty hilarious.. but I knew I had to get up real early and honestly didn´t want to deal with it. Sorry Andrew! I think he ended up climbing up on the top bunk with his shoes on, climbing down, climbing back up again, and falling out later on that night. Poor guy, his ribs were already bruised from a previous incident.

Anyways, I don´t have any more money for this internet business.

Xoxo,
-S

Santa Elena, CR

Ahhh, the life.

So far Costa Rica has been extremely stress and worry-free. Well, minus the dog episode. I want to take home every dog that showers me with attention. I've been trying my best to not approach stray dogs that don't really pay any attention to me, so it's a little easier. Bea goes up to ANY dog she sees.. which isn't always a good thing, because sometimes you get the ones that snap or bark, or just don't have good personalities. I kind of refrain from approaching the dogs because I can't handle leaving them.

Anyways, there's this stray that came to Pension Santa Elena (where I'm staying) about a month ago, nearly dead from starvation. She's still really skinny, but alive and walking around. The people here call her Flor, but I've been calling her Honey. She looks like a husky, but is completely honey-colored. Sweetest personality, too. This morning I was talking to the guy Ran, who co-owns this hostel and he was telling me how easily he could help me get her to the U.S. While we were talking, another guy approached me and told me he'd give me a crate for her if I took her back with me.. paperwork is like, $20.. then there's the airline fee, and stamps at San Jose. So, it's definitely doable. The thing is, I'm not going to be here for a good chunk of time- Bioko coop. Bea doesn't really want to take care of Honey either, so.. I mean, I don't blame her- she's already promised to be a mommy to Mango while I'm gone. She wanted to take this dog home, his name is Charlie and he's short and squat and looks like an oversized weinerdog. Personally, I don't think he has a stellar personality. He just droops everywhere, and is real sweet.. but kind of a rag dog. Honey loves to sleep, but also loves to play. She's probably no older than a year or so.

So after consulting my voice of reason, Rob, I told Ran that I'd get into contact with him after coming back from Bioko and see if Honey is still here. If she is, Ran said he'd help me get her to the U.S. Rob says I can't save every dog.. which is exactly what I want to do. I'm kind of in love with this one, but I do get attached quite easily. Oh man, I'm pathetic. I'm also glad I have Rob in my life.

Yesterday. Yesterday, yesterday. Yesterday we woke up and got to the Monte Verde National Reserve by 6:45am. We hiked and hiked, and hiked. It was fantastic. Again, I can't explain how flippin' beautiful it is here. The first part of our hike was in complete fog. I mean, the lookout points were pointless, but it was really neat to gaze into the forest and see haziness everywhere. We saw a crab and many insects, and heard tons of monkeys yelling through the treetops. There was a great waterfall, and everything was green. Even the tree trunks were suffocating in leafy and viney fauna.

We hike the way back to the town of Santa Helena, and along the way stop at the Friends School (Quaker School) and sit in on their Sunday morning Meeting. It was a good hour of silence, in which Bea and I both fell asleep sitting upright. Afterwards was a fantastic (and free!) potluck. Bea and I talked to some of the people there.. mostly Bea talked. I mean, Quakers are great.. but some of the people we were takling to were just way too "nice." Sure, they were probably honest to God good people, but it was just very uncomfortable for me. I like when folks are down to earth and don't make me feel like I can't look them in the eye while holding a conversation with 'em. I feel badly saying this, but I just got really uncomfortable with most of the people there. Anyway, the food was great. I stuffed myself twice over, and then we walked the 5Km back to town.

Along the way I saw a horse, and we visited lots of little touristy shops. There was a cheese factory that smelled like caca de vaca (cow poo), and a man who made clothing from alpaca wool.

I don't really remember what we did after we got back. Probably napped, went to the supermarket, etc.. At night we hung out with some guys from Virginia (?) and had many many laughs over the Imperial beer of Costa Rica. It was a good night. We planned on waking up early and catching the 6am bus to get to Montezuma eventually.. but right before falling asleep we decided to stay an extra night. I mean, we still hadn't seen that amazing tree yet.

We slept in, and in the morning woke up slowly. 8am! What a treat! Bea and the boys wanted to hike to the tree at 2pm, but I wanted to head there earlier. So after talking to Ran about Honey, I got a book, bought some bread at the bakery, and hiked up to (once again) find that goddamn tree. Turns out I got real close, but didn't find THE tree. I found a tree that fit the description, but once I tried to climb got swarmed by bugs and spiders and suffocated by the smell of the inside of the tree.. so I got out, said "eff this" and started walking back. I didn't really know where "back" was, since I was in the middle of the forest about 40 minutes trail walking from the hostel..

when all of a sudden who arrives, but Honey! I was so thrilled. I gave her some of my bakery bread, and we set off with Honey in the lead back to Santa Elena. I can't believe she found me! It was incredible, and I had my heart set on taking her back to the states with me after that. She'd do the same thing Toast would do- the whole 'trot in front and gaze back, waiting for you to catch up.' We must have crawled under at least five barbed wire fences, and trotted through two or three different backyards to get back to town. But, we got there, and thanks to Honey I'm not still wandering the forests of Costa Rica. I mean, I'm sure I would have found my way back.. but she was such a hero, and I love bragging about her. I had that "Bea, you mentioned earlier how you wouldn't mind taking care of Honey.." conversation, but to no avail. I don't blame her.

I bought Honey some dog treats, and am in the middle of trying to get a tick out of her ear.

I am currently struggling to breathe because Bea gave me a bugspray wipe that has incredibly toxic smelling fumes.. so I'm going to go continue scratching Honey's tummy and reading "Running with Scissors" and doing an impossible puzzle, and drinking great Costa Rican coffee.

Oh yeah- I forgot to tell about how I did end up finding the tree with the help of some kids who live here. It's pretty incredible and I'm going back again tomorrow morning before we leave by bus. It was pouring rain on the walk back, and I was wearing a dress and sandals. I had my raincoat in my hand, but it was kind of pointless. Besides, the rain was actually quite enjoyable.

Bye now,
S

Cloud Forest in Monte Verde, CR

Monte Verde and Santa Helena, Costa Rica 9/6/08

Today was pretty exciting. We got up to broad daylight at around 6:30am and thought we were waking up at noon. Psych! The guy at the desk, Ran, told us about this really awesome tree that we could hike to and climb up. The tree was taken over by an invasive plant species called the fig something strangler something. Anyways, it was like a ladder that you climbed up into the tree and once you were at the top of the tree, could see the entire valley in its awesomeness. So Ran gave us directions to this tree, and we hiked and hiked and hiked. Supposedly we went about 6 times further than we were supposed to.. and apparantly it was all uphill. When I say uphill I mean up a vertical dirt hill.. hahh.. can you say out of shape?

So we never found this tree. Tomorrow, tomorrow.

At 10:30 we were picked up by this cool van and taken to this place in the cloud forest where there were 8 massive bridges along a trail. It was amazing. Like, words can't describe how awesome the rainforest is. When you're on the bridge it feels like you're on an airplane looking down at the clouds.. but really you're a body looking down at the treetops. It didn't rain, thank goodness.. well, not until we were back at the hostel. I took many many pictures, and we hung out at this hummingbird area. I was close enough to flick them with my hair, if I had long hair. Hah! Anyways, I can't explain this rainforest. The whole time I was thinking about how I was going to spend six months in a rainforest like this.. without tourists and resorts.. just pure jungle. It was so green! Okay, this is not sounding coherent.

We got back at around 2pm and I fell asleep right away. I think I'm going to shower.. or make pasta.
Pasta. -S

Leaving La Fortuna, Costa Rica

La Fortuna 9/5/08

We woke up real early and went back to the great swimming hole that we went to last night. Toast the dog, was our tourguide for the entire way there and back. It was adorable.. and he was very loyal for those 3 miles out of town. He'd walk ahead and then turn and wait for us.. looking back and wagging his little stump. I think he's got hip problems, because when he walks his back paws kind of criss cross. Maybe patella problems, but who knows? Anyways, he's adorable. At the Tarzan swimming hole we waded in and hung out for a little bit and took pics.

After the walk back we caught the jeep-boat-jeep at around 8:30am to get to Monte Verde. Monte Verde is across a lake and south west from La Fortuna. To take the local bus around the lake takes a good 8 hours, but taking a jeep, and then a boat across the lake, and then another jeep to Monte Verde takes a total of 3 hours or so. The boat across the lake was really beautiful- you could see the enormous volcano, tons of green, and etc., etc. The second jeep ride- actually a van ride- was really really bumpy. Most of the roads are horrid and dirt and.. well, uncared for. I was sitting in the back of the van with Bea and felt really sick. I get motion sickness sometimes, and I wasn't feeling the crazy roads and horrible van suspension. I will say that it was an amazing sight trekking through the mountains of CR though!

We stayed at this hostel called Pension Santa Helena tonight. Monte Verde is actually pretty hostel-less, and so most travelers stay in the nearby town- Santa Helena. It's really nice, and run by these brother and sister duo from Austin, TX. We got in, got settled, and napped. It's great that we are so used to waking up at 6am, napping for a few hours after noon, and going to bed before 9:30pm. I haven't showered in a few days, and I'm not planning on shaving for this trip. It's just not practical, and I really don't care.

At night we played Pictionary and this crossword/Scrabble game with some folks from New Zealand and some people from England. We also went to the supermarket and got foods for dinner, and breakfast and lunch for the next day. Food shopping is not one of our strengths, but I'm sure everyone else was having a fun time watching us.

Our room is right next to the internet area and front desk, so it was pretty loud until 11pm or so.. so that was kind of frustrating, being old women and all.. haha.

There are some real cute stray dogs and cats here that we can't keep our hands off of. I'm also getting bit up by lots of mosquitos.. on my ankles, buttocks, elbows, wrists, fingers.. you name it.
Tomorrow we'll explore more! -S

San Jose and La Fortuna, Costa Rica

San Jose 8:54am 9/3/08

Hello Costa Rica!

Bea and I are on a bus headed towards La Fortuna right now. Getting out of San Jose.. yippee! San Jose is like Tijuana. Actually, I'm firmly convinced that I'm in a wetter, greener version of Tijuana.

Last night Bea and I went to sleep at 5pm-7pm Eastern time. Bea had some beans and rice for two dollars before bed. I figured I'd eat when I got up from the nap, but I didn't end up waking until 11pm. My left arm was asleep and hit me in the face when I lifted it up. That sure woke me up.

I went upstairs to the rooftop restaurant to use the internet and see if our friend Gordon was up there. Gordon is also an American, and from Chicago. He was on the same plane from Charlotte as us, and stayed in the same hostel- Hostel Pangea.

I didn't see him, so after chatting with Diego online about Dino'smores I went back to sleep.
We woke up around six thirty am and got our stuff together. Our plan was to go to the HOliday Inn to try and score some free continental breakfast. Turns out you have to pay for breakfast there, so we started walking the nine blocks or so to the bus station- speaking Spanish only, of course. We pass by a Best Western, look at each other, and waltz on in. We order, and the lady asks us what room we were staying in. Bea said "13".. she says "13? There is no 13. There's 113, 213, 313.." and we go "Oh yeah, 213." She then asks us for our names, and Bea says "Beatriz." She says "What name is the room under?" and we tell her we didn't know. She asks for the room key and Bea says her boyfriend had it and was wandering around town. She called the front desk and amusingly told them that we didn't know what name the room was under.

And so, voila! Free breakfast. Bea had fried plantains, beans and eggs, and I had fruit, cereal, and toast. I improvised and had cereal and banana toast, since they didn't have soymilk and I didn't want to munch on dry cereal alone. The Costa Rican coffee is amazing, btw.

When we got to the bus station Gordon was already there. See ya!
-S



La Fortuna 6:57 9/4/08

Today was AWESOME! Last night was pretty fun as well. Let's start then, shall we?

We arrive in La fortuna in the afternoon at around one pm, and find our hostel quite easily. It's a small town. Gringo Pete's is a quaint little hostel on the eastern side of town (town is no more than three miles wide). It is painted purple, and on the outside of the gate says "There are not such thing as strangers, only friends you haven't met yet." The woman who checked us in was really great and helpful and showed us around, etc. They've got a kitchen, free Costa Rican coffee (!!!), showers and a bbq pit in the back. We paid four dollars for a dorm room. So sweet!

So we got settled and then had a walk around town: Gordon, Bea and me. It's pretty touristy, although there aren't many tourists given it's nearing the end of tourist season, which was nice. We went in the little touristy shops with their hammocks and wooden statues. I kind of want to get a hammock, and I'm in the market for some hiking shoes (for here and for Bioko).

We stopped by this restaurant place and got casados- a plate of beans, rice, friend plantains, potatoes, cheese, and a main course of your choice: beef, veggies, lengua (toungue), etc. I got veggies of course, but was kind of disappointed when they came our with lettuce and tomatoes. Bea had beef and Gordon had toungue. They shared with each other. We also ordered fruit drinks- Bea had papaya juice with water (blended with ice), I had banana "water" and Gordon had strawberry "milk." The papaya drink was excellent.

After that we went back to the hostel to meet Gavin, a guy Gordon was sitting next to on the bus. We acquired four stray dogs on the way back and named them all: Nips (for her bulbous and swollen nipples), toast (he was the color of burnt toast), Chimichanga (the original follower), and a darker, squatter one whose name I forget. They were cute, but chased away by a small boy who evidentally lived next door to the hostel.

We walk in and this girl wrapped in a towel has a horrified look on her face, and is standing in the dorm. She says "there was a man watchng me take a shower through the windows!" Poor thing, she was mortified. And after that we kept seeing that little boy peeking through the windows to our room while we were changing and doing our girl thang.

Gavin comes and tells us that the hostel he's staying at (for ten dollars more)has a nice pool. It's hot and humid and we want to go for a swim. So I get this great idea to cut out strips of red paper from flyers to mimic the red wristband Gavin was wearing. It works! And we go swimming. We're sure they noticed, but didn't say anything since all we were doing was using their pool. It was loads of fun.

Afterwards, we bought some Costa Rican beer (40's, hah) at the supermarket and got a taxi to these hot springs about 13km down the road towards the volcano. Oh yeah- I forgot to mention the volcano Arenal. It's freaking enormous and spews lava down the west side of the volcano. We are on the eastern side, so we can't see it from the town, but the volcano itself is enormous!!

So we each pay about a dollar and are taxied to this hot springs resort area. Across from the $60 resort is the "run off" where all the locals go and chill fo free. It's dark at this point and we don't have flashlights. Hah. We pick our way down to the springs, shed our clothing, and sit down on this waterfallish thing. (we are wearing bathing suits of course.) It was like a really large slab of concrete, and the water flowed over, forming a waterfall where it droped off. There were some guys from San Jose, CA there with their cool teenage tourguide and we talked for a little bit.

The tourguide kid asked me if I wanted to go under the waterfall into a cave. I said "sure" and we plunged into the waterfall. Once we got inot the cave, which was the little space under the slab of concrete, he asked me if I was having fun and if that was my boyfriend outside. Hah. He totally wanted to get some. I told him my boyfriend was in the US and went back out of the cave :). We stayed there for about two and a half hours- the taxi driver said he'd pick us up at 9pm. It gets dark before 6pm here. So Gordon and I have a tipsy heart to heart conversation while Bea and Gavin talk, and we headed back up to the main road at 9.

Guess what? Taxi driver wasn't there. Prolly didn't even plan on cmoing back to pick us up.

We walk over to the $60 resort, throw away our empty bottles, help ourselves to some food, get kicked out, and ask for a taxi. Who shows up but our good 'ol flaker driver? Great. He comes, not looking happy at all. We seriously thought he was going to do something shady like drive us to the middle of the rainforest and strand us. Buttt he drove us back to the city where we walk back to our hostels and crash for the night.

The hot springs were pretty neat, though. Not too hot, very relaxing, and the stars weren't covered by tons of light pollution.

I had a good night's sleep and we woke up at around 7am the next morning. I'd say we kind of wandered around for the rest of today. We stopped by a supermarket and got some food for breakfast. I got some great vegan whole wheat cookies and beans and hips. In hindsight, cookies for breakfast is not a good idea.

Anyways, we kind of wandered around town a little bit, sat at the niternet cafe for a half hour each, I looked for shoes. Gordon went to get a massage and Bea and I took a nap.

I was sleeping great until the town's school band started playing really loudly outside Gringo Pete's. By band I mean a dozen or so drummers, some cymbals, and half a dozen large xylophones. It was quite a racket. I got up and went outside and watcehd them do their thang. It was real cute and they were havnig tons of fun.

I'm typing fast, bc I'm at a hostel right now and people look like they want to use the internet. Pardon the errors. Also, I left the connecting cable for my camera at Rob's so no pics until I get back!

When Gordon got back we made plans to walk to this river where the local kids al go swimming. It was about a half an hour walk, but it was great! THere was a great little waterfall and a rope swimng. THe water temp wasn't freexing, and it was great to hang out, jumping off rocks and flying off rope swings into the water- surrounded by rainforest with a massive volcano looming in the background.

We were the only people there, and started heading back at around six, when it got dark. I didn't bring my camera, but Bea and I are planning on going back tomorrow before our jeep-boat-jeep leaves at 8:30am for Monte Verde. FUn, fun, fun!

I also ate a big bag of fresh lychee and a bat flew into Gringo Pete's while we were eating dinner. Ciao!
-S

San Jose, Costa Rica

Thats right, folks. Bea and I just flew into San Jose, Costa Rica. This city reminds me a lot of Tijuana, Mexico. From what Ive seen, it is a poor and dirty large city. I cant wait to get out to Monteverde and Fortuna and Jaco and beautiful places along the pacific coast.

Like in Spain, the stop signs crack me up every time. Alto, stop, also means "tall" in spanish.

I cant find out how to get the apostrophe symbol to work, if you havent noticed. I could copy and paste it from another page, but thats a little too much effort. Foreign keyboards are always slightly awkward.

The flight was good. I slept from the time I strapped in (before takeoff) until the time I unbuckled my seatbelt (after landing). It was great. We had a connecting flight in Charlotte, NC.. and Bea and I alternated between doing a crossword puzzle and sleeping on the second flight. Some girl took one of our seats, so the flight attendant sat us in the emergency exit row, after asking how old I was. I looked at the pamphlet later on, and you have to be 15 years old to sit there. Do I honestly look 14? Jeez. There was a man and a woman sitting behind us, and I told Bea that they were probably on their honeymoon. Later on that was confirmed.

In the Charlotte airport Bea got some nachos, which took excruciatingly long. Not her fault, but we were the last ones to board. And when we got in our seats and settled down, the smell of the nachos wafted throughout the cabin. One of the flight attendents was so excited that she even showed us her own take out meal- mango and chicken.

I miss Mango. I hope he didnt think that I left him forever, although he will probably come to that conclusion when Im in Bioko. Poor baby.

Oh, and apparantly we didnt get free snacks on board, but a nice attendant lady snuck us some cookies and snacks. That was great.


Again, I cant wait until I am surrounded by the rainforest and hiking up volcanos.

Love, S

The beach

The beach ate my phone.

Apparently I have holes in my back pockets.

I feel liberated.

I feel hungry.

Day XXX: Portland and Seattle

Update on the baby:

I woke up, woke him up.. and we played! He seems back to normal and very very hungry. I'm so glad. Last night I couldn't go to sleep. I kept thinking about how if he had surgery I'd have to find another job and work my ass off the month before leaving for Bioko, and not go to Costa Rica.

Anyways, we're going back to the vet's. Hopefully he won't need another x-ray, those goddamn things are so expensive. AND they wouldn't let me keep them! Hah. I'll just have to bring my camera in this time.

I'm ecstatic. Mango is hungry. Bea is trying to sign up for her fall term classes, and we need to go!

Day IXXX: Portland, OR

August 12, 2008

I know, I know. I'm horribly behind. After San Diego was LA, then the long drive home to the San Francisco Bay Area. We spent a couple days there, then drove back down to LA with Ben Iremonger, David Wood, Jon Atkinson, Jackie Sloves and Patrick Whitford for a concert. The Boredoms (look 'em up!) played with 88 Boardrum.. an 88 full drum ensemble at 8:08pm, on August 8th, 2008. It was incredible. It took place at the La Brea tar pits in L.A., and it was fo free. We also got free T-shirts and free ice cream from the Ice Cream Man (if you haven't heard of them, they go around giving out free ice cream "just for smiles").

We got back, were planning to leave on Tuesday morning.. I got in a parental fight (as usual), and so we left early on Sunday morning. I left on good terms, so it's all gravy.




Anyhow, I'm in Portland. I love it here, however our situations are less than ideal. I mean, the people we're staying with (Matt and roommates) are fantastic. Thanks Ian Shiver for the great friends in faraway places! No really, they're so accommodating and really down to earth folks. Portland in general feels like an enormous small town, if that makes any sense. I could see myself living here in a decade or two. There are bikes everywhere, and community gardens galore! Last night we went with Matt to a friend's house for a vegan potluck. I had taken four Typhoid fever live viruses for Bioko in the past week, and I felt horrible. I felt like I had typhoid fever.. well, I felt like I had a real bad fever. Bea was social for me, I guess. I sat there and pet their dog, Lisa.

When I got home I crashed right away. Mango, who we had to leave at home for the dinner (Lisa didn't get along with other dogs), seemed a little strange when we got home. He was real timid and shaky and didn't seem like himself. I felt horrible as well, so we both went to sleep while Bea and Matt watched The Squid and the Whale upstairs, and then the meteor shower afterwards. I'm so bummed I missed that shower, so bummed.

So I wake up in the morning at around ten or elevenish, and Mango was still acting the same weird way. He was also dry heaving a lot, which made me real nervous. I looked up a vet right away, drove him there, and set up an appointment for later on in the day. We went for a little walk around the neighborhood of NW Portland, where the vet clinic was. We found a dog park, a post office, a public library, cute coffee shops, a doggie store, and many restaurants and pubs. Every minute or so Mango would start huffing and his lungs would swell up real big, and it seemed like he had a lot of trouble breathing.

I picked Bea up from the house and then we both drove back to the vet's. Bea had slept until 1:30pm, and didn't come with me in the morning. I had asked her if she wanted to come with me, but she said she'd keep on sleeping. I was kind of disappointed, but when I talked to her later she had no idea I had woken her up to ask her if she wanted to come. You have to understand, it takes at least 10 minutes for this girl to fully wake up :)

Anyways, we went to the doc's together. He felt around Mango's abdominal area and said that he felt like Mango's stomach was full. I told him he vomited up his breakfast this morning, but kept in his dinner last night. He also pooed this morning, so his GI tract should be okay, but he wasn't drinking as much water as he normally did. Not good. So, Mango had a little x-ray done to see what was going on, and had a shot of some anti-nausea medication to make him feel better. We looked at the x-rays together and there was evidently some stuff in his stomach. There was also dark spots where his intestines were- meaning gas was present, meaning his intestines were irritated.

The vet told me not to give him any dinner tonight, and to bring him back in the morning for another x-ray to see what was going on, and if he still had something stuck in his stomach. I guess his little intestine could rupture, or he could get really seriously dehydrated if there's something in the way. If that's the case.. he's going to have to go through surgery to take whatever is in there out.

Surgery! The vet visit today was $212... Tomorrow it's going to be another $150 or so.. and if he has to get surgery it'll be over $500. I honestly don't know what I'd do if he had to go through surgery because I really don't have that kind of money. Any suggestions? Vet payment plans? Golly. Oh, AND I'll be "MIA" for six months starting in October, so it's not like I can get lots of moohla in that time period.

I talked to my mom and she reiterated what my dad told her: that I should have considered these kinds of things when I first adopted this guy. True, but he would be dead if I didn't adopt him.

Advice?
-S and M

Day XVII: AZ and CA

July 31, 2008

The drive to San Diego from Phoenix is probably around five or six hours. We waited until Justin came back from his Philosophy exam at eleven before we left. Abe also came by and said goodbye and help us out with directions after Justin left for his second class.

I was really sleepy so I took a nap while Bea drove the first leg. We stopped at a rest stop in the middle of the sand dunes of Southern California. It was horribly hot. I drove the rest of the way, and the ride out of the valley was great. I cruised down in neutral for about 9 miles. I also had an energy drink and was going kind of bonkers. I kept telling Bea how pink and beautiful the sky was, and telling her how excited I was that I was still in neutral. I think we’ve accepted that the driver (who’s usually drinking coffee or an energy drink) is the one talking and rambling on, while the person in the passenger’s seat is usually trying to sleep, or mumbling incoherent comments in response to the driver’s rambling.

We got to San Diego okay, found Mac’s place, and parked. His cute little apartment is a couple blocks from the beach and he lives with a guy named Mike. We got here at around nine at night, and sat down with a couple beers. I was mostly online while Bea and Mac caught up on the old times. Mac and Bea dated for 5 months (?) when she was a freshman and he was a senior in high school.. I think. He’s a cool cat. We played card games when Mike came back after work. For some reason I thought it’d be a good idea if I went outside to their pool (about five steps away from Mac’s front door) and jumped in. I got in my swimsuit first, and convinced Bea to go swimming with me. It was so cold.

We ended up staying up until 4am, with Bea, Mango and I taking over Mike’s bed while he slept on the couch. He insisted, don’t worry J. Rob texted me just as I was going to sleep at 4am, and I called him since it was morning over there. We talked, and then I went back inside and slept. Mango was pretty pooped out by the end of tonight.

-S & M

Day XVI: AZ

July 30, 2008

This darn dog woke me up again and wouldn’t go back to sleep. It happens every morning, but he usually goes back to sleep before 7am. Not this morning. Good thing I got the crate out last night- he had to stay in it while we continued to sleep until 10:30. We went to sleep before we finished watching 40-Year Old Virgin, so (staying on the couches) we finished the rest of the movie. It’s hilarious.

Abe came in as the movie wrapped up. (Justin was still in class.) I showered and we went to the local Tempe Petco for some doggie dog food. Mango was on the last of his big bag of Beneful, and he had torn an arm off of his Diddle-Dude. He has also been chewing on my fingers a lot lately, so I bought him this King Kong chew toy. It has a little hole in the middle of it for treats or peanut butter. I also got some more mini tennis balls since I keep leaving his other ones in homes around the country. I always have such a hard time in pet stores. I love them, but they’re just so distracting and so much is always going on. One side houses rodents, reptiles and birds, the other has the aquariums, the other has doggie beds.. The doggie toy isles are way too long and there are just way too many products. I feel like I just wander the isles without accomplishing anything in particular. Most of the time I’m way too indecisive to be productive.

The dollar store that we went to was intense. I got root beer, Mango got a little kid’s tank top that says “Lift Off” and has a little rocket ship and stars on it. I told myself I would never dress up my dog, but he’s too adorable and I couldn’t help it. Besides, he’s going to get freezing cold this Philadelphia winter. We also got a loofa for the shower and energy drinks for the road.

Abe took Bea, Mango and me back to Justin’s where we said hello to Justin and called up Lauren Kane. She’s also a Graphic Design major at Drexel and wanted to show us a great vegan restaurant in Tempe. We set out to meet Lauren and her girlfriend, but Bea discovered her bike (my bike polo bike) had a horribly bent chain ring. We figured that it was probably bent when backing up into another car from a parallel parking space somewhere in the south. Not good. Anyways, we walked to the nearest bike shop and bought another one. The guys at this bike shop were nice, but there were way too many cruisers for comfort. The place was real big, but most of the floor space was taken up with way too many large and (to me) impractical bicycles. I was like I was in the pet store- walking aimlessly around, picking up stuff and putting it down. I ended up buying a cute pink floral bell, a black water bottle cage, and a sweet teal bike hat. Love it. I also looked at the bike shorts that they had and realized I still need $200 for the MS150 City to Shore benefit bike ride I’m doing in the end of September.

The vegan restaurant that Lauren and Lexi took us to was great! It’s called Greeny (I think), and had a great menu. Too bad I wasn’t hungry. The crab cakes looked good, and the cheese steak sandwich also looked fantastic. I settled for a vegan Tsoynami. It’s a blend of yummy ingredients fashioned sort of like a flurry. I got the Soy Capitan: Vanilla ice cream, fruity Captain Crunch, and strawberries. It was delicious. We left and rode back to Justin’s house to drive to the airport to FLY!

Justin was in flight school and was going to ASU (Arizona State University) to be a pilot for commercial airlines, but realized that he was paying way too much for what it was worth. He switched to a Philosophy major a couple of months ago. On the way home from the airport we had a great philosophical conversation. That sounds so yuppy: “A great philosophical conversation.” Sorry. It was a good, thoughtful conversation. I feel like I should seriously think about minoring in philosophy. I love to think.

Anyways, flying is amazing! We went up in a high-winged four person plane. That’s simple speak, I suppose. We flew for a little over an hour, and oh- I should probably call ma to let her know I’m alive. We left right as the sun set and flew over most of Phoenix and the outlaying areas after the sun went down. The view from the plane was like we were flying over a sea of city lights. It was pretty amazing. Before the sun set we stalled and experienced zero gravity, on purpose. Scared the living #@$% out of me. I hate roller coasters because I hate the feeling of falling. Zero gravity is falling. I held a pen in my hand and when we did the nose dive it rose up in front of my face. So did my phone, my sunglasses, and both of my flip flops. Bea took a video of the whole ordeal, so check out my flickr for it. Everything is organized by city in the Road trip set of the 2008 collection, if you haven’t figured that out by now.

Now I’m home- Justin’s place. Family Guy just finished and Bea is sleeping on the couch next to me. Mango is lying peacefully on my left shoulder, and Justin is studying 17^th and 18^th century philosophers for his exam tomorrow morning. Mango was so excited to see me after I got back from flying with Justin. He went crazy, and it made me feel loved J

See ya, Arizona.

-S and M

Day XV: AZ

July 29, 2008

Today was spent swimming in rivers and lakes in hot, hot Tempe. Tempe is real close to Phoenix, and just as hot. Justin’s friend Abe was our little tour guide. First we went to a river, realized the car needed a “day pass,” went back into town until we got to the nearest gas station where they sold day passes. Abe was talking to the guy at the counter, and asked him if he thought that we needed a day pass + a boat pass if our car could turn into a boat. The man’s reaction? “Uh, I don’t know.” And then, “I use to have one of those back in the day.” Abe and I burst out laughing as soon as we got to the car. A car-boat, back in the day? What?

The river was great. Semi-chilly, but I enjoyed it. Some wild (?) horses came to have a little refreshing drink on the other side of the river, and they were great fun to watch. Mango came in a couple times to rescue me again, but ended up perched on top of my head (again).

We went back to the house, said goodbye to Justin as he set off for work, and watched another movie. I think Bea and Abe were watching the Family Guy movie while I talked to Rob on the phone for a good hour and a half.. or however long the movie was. When I came back they were both snoozing and the credits were rolling. We figured we’d meet up with Justin at his workplace, the bowling alley. Tonight was $1.26 games, or something like that. I’m really horrible at bowling. I think my final score was 25 points. Horrible! I know. My second game was better, probably because we took a little intermission break and had a couple beers back at Justin’s. Don’t worry though, Abe was the DD. I think my second score was at least 67. It was an improvement, but still a horrible score.

-S and M

Day XIV: NM and AZ

July 28, 2008

We woke up real early this morning. By real early, I mean 6am. Surprisingly, both of us were up and about (as up and about you can be squished in a tiny ’96 Honda civic). We drove through the beautiful canyon to the national park’s tourist center. They didn’t open until 8:30, so we walked around a bit and watched the sunrise.

We hiked up to this small hill to write in our journals and pass the time away. For some reason Bea wore her flip flops, which wasn’t too comfortable walking through cactus spikes and sharp rocks. Poor Mango would get stuck behind a bunch of cacti and instead of turning around and finding a different route to me, he’d stick his front paws up on the cacti and perk his ears up. I had to then walk back and pick him up, pick out all the stickers and spines out of his paws, and continue the journey through the desert. Once we got all settled on our appropriate rocks we realized how horribly pesky the gnats were. They buzzed around our ears, arms, bodies, and ears. It was about 8:20am when we got back to the tourist center where we bought tickets, paid for a kennel, and rented an audio tour guide.

Dogs aren’t allowed into the caverns, and they’ve got these nice little kennels for $5 a day. The kennels were really a bunch of big and small crates in a side room of the tourist center. Mango stayed in there when we went down to the caverns. He wasn’t too happy.

On the way down to the caverns we stopped by and spoke with two people. The first was a guy dressed head to toe in long-sleeves and pants. He was spraying organic pesticides on invasive plant species. He told us that he lived on the national park and was a student nearby. The second person was a lady park ranger who convinced Bea to take a bite out of a cactus fruit. I took a picture of her hilarious face.

The descent down into the caverns was a steep, steep downhill climb. It progressively got colder, which was fine. Above ground it was a mean 115 degrees. The Carlsbad Caverns are incredible. We walked through the route laid out for tourists, oohing and ahhing the entire way through. I tried to snap some pictures, but I don’t hold the camera still enough so they turned out kind of sloppy. I highly recommend if anyone is in the southern New Mexico area to stop by and say hello to the awesome stalactites and stalagmites. It was incredible knowing that we were 750 feet underground and in what seemed to be a whole new world.

When we got back up to the surface we freed the Mango and set off for the journey to Phoenix. It was a long drive- probably along the lines of 10-12 hours. I really have no idea, though. We stopped by this Mexican restaurant and got some burritos. Dinner took place outside on the curb since they wouldn’t let Mango in. I had two cups of coffee so I wouldn’t fall asleep at the wheel, and when we arrived in Phoenix I was on a horrible caffeine buzz. Never again.

Justin and his friend Abe were there to meet us, and we pretty much crashed immediately.

-S & M

Day XIII: TX and NM

July 27, 2008

Sunday morning. Jake and his family go to church at 11, and so we figured we’d get going before then. I woke up earlier than everyone else as usual, took a shower, fed the dog. Jake’s mom had to go early for choir so she was up bright and early as well. We stood in the kitchen drinking coffee and talking about our dogs for a good 20 minutes. I like her- she’s nice company and sounds like a compassionate human being.

Soon the rest of the house began waking up and doing their morning things. We said goodbye to Jake, I left a Thank You note on their fridge, and we drove away from good ‘ol Plano. It’s a long drive across Texas. No way would we have wanted to drive all the way to Phoenix in one day. Carlsbad Caverns were about 12 hours away, so we set out with that as our destination. (Carlsbad Caverns is in southern New Mexico.) Texas is so big. It’s big, hot and flat.

I saw some giant dinosaurs on the side of the road and couldn't resist. Turns out it was a Ripley's Believe it or Not shindig:


We stopped for food at this gas station and Winnaburger place. (They’re real popular in the South.) I went to the gas station and got mandarin oranges since there was NOTHING else. Bea got a burger. Oh, we also got gas. I saw a gnarly- looking trucker who was taking his dog out for a walk, and so I brought Mango over to say hello. His dog’s name was Harley and he was part Pomeranian, part sheepdog. I asked him if Harley went everywhere he went and he said, “Yeah. I’d be lost without him.” I awww’d inside. He was eating an ice cream sandwich, our dogs humped for a couple minutes. As I walked away he told me that he liked my tattoos. He also had full sleeve tattoos, but he was so old that they had turned all gray and faded. I liked them, and I told him.

I talked to Rob on the phone and met Bea in the burger place. Mango pooped outside and we continued the drive to Carlsbad. Carlsbad Caverns aren’t exactly in the town of Carlsbad; they’re a little south west. We mistakenly drove into town, realized we weren’t at the caverns, and stopped at a gas station to ask for directions. The two women at the food mart were Mexican, and at first looked wary. Who wouldn’t look strangely at two girls wearing bikinis and shorts carrying an oversized Chihuahua? Bea goes pee while Mango and I chase cockroaches. This place was full of them. Gross, but entertaining. So the women give us directions, but their directions are a shortcut- I guess? She drew it on receipt paper, too small at first. “Oh- this is too small!” Then redraws it the same size, but this time labeled all the stop signs and streets in chicken scratch. She then retold us how to get there about 7 times in a really broken/confusing manner. We went back to the car and Bea says, “She could easily name given us directions in a minute.” I think we were there at least seven.

So we get back on the road. We have an atlas, so we just went off that and completely disregarded the nonsense those helpful ladies were trying to tell us. I figured I’d just retrace my steps until we found the route we were looking for.

We find it successfully and drive down through what seems to contain no houses or human life. There’s a bunch of cattle guarding jack rabbits. I almost ran over a couple and slowed down to 35 mph while Bea made fun of me: “Don’t worry, they’re just little rabbits, not deer. They won’t hurt the car.” Me: “Bea, it’s not the car I’m worried about, it’s the bunnies!” And then we went into ta whole discussion about rabbit families, rabbit fathers and how they have/don’t have feelings. I see a skunk point its butt at me on the side of the road.

I turn my high beams on WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN we see a human figure walking towards us in the darkness. (Keep in mind we haven’t seen signs of a home in the last 10 minutes.) He was dressed in a white button-up, white jeans and cowboy boots, and wearing a white cowboy hat. He was carrying a white cup and was walking towards us on the opposite side of the road. So freaky. I immediately double checked to see if the doors were locked and both Bea and I started screaming about how we saw an apparition. That’s not it. I drove a couple more miles before coming to a complete stop in front of a petrified looking raccoon lying in the middle of the road. Oh yes, we were both screaming for no reason at this point. It was great.

There isn’t any camping allowed in Carlsbad Caverns, so we parked in front of a nice looking motel and slept there. It was a little struggle getting both of us happy and comfortable, but we managed.

-S and M

Day XII: TX

July 26, 2008

The good ‘ol Mango alarm woke us up bright and early. I showered; we packed up the car, and in doing so found a sweet little note on our car saying that we didn’t check in. I guess the camping permit for the bungalow was $24 a night. $30 a night was just too good to be true. Still, $30 for a safe and comfortable night in the beautiful woods is a steal. Last night the sky was clear, and if you found a hole in the forest canopy the stars would have taken your breath away. Sometimes, living in Philly I forget that skies chock full of stars still exist. Oh light pollution.

After we paid the monies, the park ranger gave us a map and showed us where to go swimming. It was still early, so we went to the lake in the middle of the park and jumped in. Of course it took a little pretend drowning to get Mango in the water, but once he was in, he was in.

I swam out pretty far with Mango, to the point where I was a good five strokes from being where I could reach the bottom. He’d get all antsy and climb up my torso until he had perched his body on my shoulder. It was like treading water with a little 10 pound weight on your shoulder. We took videos.

Bea got out and lay down on the grass on a towel, soaking up the sun. I guess she migrated to lying just on the grass. In Texas most of the ground is home to fire ants. 40% of the population are allergic to their bite.. well, allergic to the poison they zap into their system when they bite. Bea started developing a rash and strange parts of her body began swelling up immediately- mainly her earlobes. She called mama bear when we got into the car and took two Benadryl pills. I took the wheel and drove the leg to Plano while she passed out in a Benadryl coma.

We got to Jake’s house in the middle of commercialized suburbia. Bea continued her coma in Jake’s bed. Jake and I caught up for hours while Bea slept. It was great. We hadn’t seen each other for about 3 years (since the Alaskan cruise). He has two Yorkshire terriers. Gabby is about three and tiny, Jellybean is about ten and is allergic to just about everything. She’s pretty big for a Yorkie and has warts all over, the poor thing. Gabby was definitely the spoiled one. Mango of course just wanted to hump. Jake didn’t take too kindly to that. Personally, I enjoyed watching him protect his timid little dog from my horny Mango.

Mango helped me wake up Bea and we all went to dinner in one of the Mexican restaurants in the commercial Plano. Seriously, Plano and most of Dallas are absurdly spread out. The homes are huge since land is so cheap and labor is mostly done by illegal immigrants, as Jake told us. The whole area strikes me as weird. It’s a weird I don’t like. In my opinion, don’t go to Texas unless you’re looking for a corporate haven, suburbia, or wide open plains full of cacti and flash thunderstorms. Our only pluses were seeing Jake and cheap gas. good old Bush knows how to take care of his state. Cheapest gas seen? $3,72 per gallon. I know!

Dinner was pretty good- I had rice and beans and corn tortillas. I love corn tortillas. I love most Mexican foods. The only problem is that their food usually has meats or cheese in them. Oh well, I was satisfied with my simple meal. We sat outside so that Mango could sit with us. The manager kept coming around asking if everything was okay. He also gave Mango some water, so he’s alright in my book. Dinner consisted of a lot of talking and a lot of people-watching. Most of the middle-aged couples tended to dress and look the same. The man usually sports some Dockers shorts and a polo or hideous Hawaiian shirt, and their woman is usually in a cute top with floods and low heels. Her hair, nails, and makeup are most likely immaculate, and she looks real put together. I’m not stereotyping, trust me, I’m just noting my observations.

We drove around a little bit looking at the insanely large mansions of Plano. We watched “Team America” as part of the Texas/America tour. I had never seen it before.. it’s hilarious! Jake’s younger sister- the older of the two- was home when we got back and we convinced her to play board games with us. I had never played Taboo and Bea was really into it, so we played. The first round Bea and I lost horribly (by 40 points). By the second round Bea and I had caught on and kicked butt! I mean, we still lost, but only by one point. I highly recommend buying Taboo for every home. It’s going to be a must in our house in Philly. Most def. After Taboo we played Pictionary- which is essentially the same thing, but your partner ahs to guess the word through pictures and not a verbal description. Bea and I were amazing at Pictionary, btw. After Pictionary was Charades.

I’m being very factual in my description of tonight’s festivities, but it was a night full of laughter and good, wholesome fun. See kids? You don’t need to go consume unreal amounts of alcohol and narcotics to have a great time. J Board games are the new fad in my book. I’m not even that competitive anymore; I really just enjoy guessing/describing/teamwork oriented games. Kind of. Anyways, we went to sleep on the L couch where we were playing board games. I slept great.

-S and M

Day XI: LA and TX

July 25, 2008

Today was a long drive. Bea triumphantly told me that she had (and I quote) “Just broke into my own car!” I had left the passenger’s side window down a crack and I guess while I was in the shower she had found a clothes hanger and used it to unlock the door from the outside of the car. Good work Bea! She was really excited and explained the entire process of how exactly she figured out how to open the latch. Bea’s great when she’s super excited about something. Overall, I think I enjoy being easily excited over mediocre things.

For example, on the drive to Texas today through Louisiana I drove over this ENORMOUS bridge that seemed to last forever. Seriously, we were on it for at least 15-20 minutes. The bridge stood over the Louisiana marshland. As far as the eye can see there were trees and brush, water and water and more trees. I was in awe, but Bea didn’t really share in my excitement I guess. To me it was incredible! I couldn’t believe I was easily driving over the marshiest of marshes; the bayous of Louisiana; the wetlands of the south. Isn’t that amazing? I’d say, whew!

The drive from Slidell to Texas is a long one. Specifically Plano, TX which is just northeast of Dallas. We drove all day (leaving at 2pm) until we couldn’t drive any longer (which ended up being about 2 am). The drive was soooooo long. Louisiana is a tall state if you didn’t know.

I didn’t feel like driving all the way to Plano just to get there at 4 in the morning and sleep in our car outside of Jake’s house. We looked up campgrounds in the area and found one in Tyler State park, which is on the way to Dallas. We turned off on an exit too early and ended up in the boondocks. It was pretty freaky, especially when Bea reminded us that the Texas Chain Massacre took place in TEXAS. Yeah, we were freaking ourselves out and laughing about it.. growing silent.. and then quickly making a U-turn, aka “flippin’ a bitch.”

We got to Tyler State park successfully. When I say successfully I mean alive. There was a sign at the deserted ranger station saying $3 per person for overnight camping. “Woohoo’s” and high 5’s all around. We pile back into the car and drive into Tyler State park. We aren’t driving for long until we come across this group of 7 adolescent guys walking along the side of the road. They kindly directed us to a campsite where we find cute little bungalows nestled around a community restroom. We park, get all our stuff out: blankets, pillows, the laptop, the dog.

The light bulb in our little one-room cabin was out, so I swapped bulbs with an empty neighbor cabinJ. We slept on an afghan on a slab of cement, which was surprisingly comfortable. When we woke up we were both mosquito bite free too! What a bonus! What a night!

-S & M

Day X: LA

July 24, 2008

Mango woke us up at around 10am again. Sharon was all ready to go into New Orleans after we were done with breakfast. Bea loves her Frosted Mini Wheats, and I love fruit.

Sharon drove us to the French Quarter in New Orleans- called “the Quarter” by locals, I was told. On the way there we talked about Katrina. I still can’t believe that it’s been 3 years since Katrina hit. It was really interesting to hear Bet’s mom talk about the hurricane. It seems like everyone who stayed in New Orleans stayed there by choice. She said that even Amtrak was offering to evacuate people out of the city. The hurricane didn’t even hit New Orleans- it was the flooding that was so devastating. Sharon said that 57 tornados hit Slidell, which is just north over the bridge from New Orleans. One of the bridges was torn to pieces by the hurricanes, and the other was guarded by state troopers after the storm. Thank goodness, said Sharon, or else the looters would have crossed over and spread even more mayhem.

Another big problem that I had no idea existed was the New Orleans’ prison evacuation. Actually, it was more of a “free for all.” They just let everyone out into the streets. Really? And the higher-ups complain about rampant crime and complete madness on the streets? It only takes a few to get the ball rolling. Also, the New Orleans police department and the state government are known to be some of the most corrupt in the country. I guess no one wants to work together. Oh politics. Looking out the window was so surreal. There were brand new homes sitting on their brand new stilts perched like flamingos along the river’s edge. Their neighbors were (I’m guessing) their old homes left in ruins. Roofs were caved in, moss was taking over, and trees stood crooked and twisted along the bayou. So surreal.

We got into New Orleans, talking politics and Katrina the whole way there. I kept thinking about Mango the entire time. Sharon took us out to lunch at the original House of Blues. It’s difficult to be vegan in the South, lemme tell ya. Most people in the south don’t even know what being vegan consists of, and why people would chose to live that kind of lifestyle. I don’t blame them, but still. Knowledge is power in my eyes.

I feel like most vegans are pretty aware of what’s going on and won’t stand for it. I say most because you do have those who are vegan for the wrong reasons. Personally, I’m began because #1- I don’t feel like we should be eating half the things we’re eating: i.e. lard, corn-fed cows (cows are supposed to eat GRASS), and milk (we’re the only animal who drinks it after we’ve matured- AND we’re the only animal who drinks anther animal’s milk. GROSS). That’s among lots of other things. #2- Yes, I believe us humans are naturally “supposed” to eat meat- we have partly carnivorous teeth for a reason- but I absolutely hate the way we’ve abused and manipulated our meat, poultry and dairy sources. I disagree with so much concerning the food industry. Please ask if you’re interested in what I have to say, and I’ll gladly talk your ears off. Also, the book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” is a fantastic read. I’ve only gotten through the first quarter of it before someone stole it from me at work. Imagine that.

Anyways, the House of Blues was pretty good. I had their house salad with avocado and a side of sweet potato fries. Mmm! After lunch we explored the restaurant a little more. The rooms are outrageously colorful and the bars are gorgeous. We left the House of Blues and walked around the rest of the French Quarter for a bit. It’s real cute. The architecture reminds me of Europe, which is appropriate since New Orleans was “owned” by the French, then the Spanish, and then again by the French. The streets are real tight and the hustle and bustle of the stores, bars, and restaurants makes this city feel alive. And I was only there during the daytime!

We went into lots of little touristy stores, had coffee and beignets at the Café du Monde. I waited in line for the restroom for what seemed like forever. This man who was completely spray painted silver stood next to me in line. He had two revolvers on his bullet belt: one was pink and the other was silver and wooden. This silver man sported a cowboy hat and a silver sprayed black tennis shoes. He kept making these weird clicking sounds from his throat at me. It was real flippin’ strange. I just didn’t stare back. Oh, the coffee was really good.

There was another outside covered market sort of like the one in Charleston. There were loads of jewelry, Mardi gras beads, cheap sunglasses, and more jewelry. Beth’s mom told us buying people Mardi gras beads who visit New Orleans is “what she does.” I picked out this awesome blue beaded one with a large shark pendant. I thought it was hilarious. Bea got a yellow and pink beaded one with monkey heads and bananas that felt like stress balls. We walked around a bit more, it poured gallons from the sky, and then headed to the Mississippi river where there was an oil spill yesterday. I guess one of those touristy boat planes crashed into an oil tanker from overseas. It smelled horrible.

Sharon then drove us around Uptown, which is where the Mardi gras parade takes place. The houses that line the main street are gorgeous. They are enormous with wrap around balconies, large front yards, and layers of floors- some four stories tall. In my mind the houses resembled large cakes. The trees and telephone wires lining the street are all covered in Mardi gras beads left over from Fat Tuesday and the months preceding it.

Bethany still had work until about seven or so. We probably got back to the house at around five. Bea and I were still pretty tired from the night before so we napped after I hosed down the slobbery Mango dog.

I had corn for dinner! Yum Yum, I love corn. Beth had mentioned earlier that she was going to take us out to town and out to the Louisiana bars tonight. We were all watching “So you think you can dance” on the tube with her parents during and after dinner. Bea goes out to the car to get a change of clothes for the night and returns looking pissed. “Guess what? I just locked the keys in the trunk.” I looked at her and said, “Bayuhhhhh…” She retorts with a snappy, “Well, I didn’t mean to! You think I’m going to be all jolly and happy? SHIT!” and walks away. Honestly, I wasn’t too happy myself. I more annoyed that she blew up at me. In my opinion, being in a bad mood in a frustrating situation just makes it ten times more miserable for the people involved. I wasn’t mad at her or anything- shit happens, but I really hate getting snapped at if I didn’t do anything wrong. Trust me though; I was over it in a couple minutes.

Beth goes upstairs to get all dressed and purtied up while I sat on my laptop uploading pictures from Savannah and Charleston. She came down and told me that Bea didn’t want to go out tonight because she was getting really bad cramps. I went up and Bea was still in a bad mood, so I let her be and walked out to Beth’s car. Halfway down the driveway Beth asks me if I have my ID with me. “ID? I left my wallet in Philly, and now it’s being mailed to my home in California.”(Insert sheepish grin.) Turns out you need to have an ID saying you’re over 18 to get into bars in Louisiana. Beth called a couple friends to ask if the bar we were planning on going to cards. Yup, they did. So instead of going out and dancing the night away we stayed in and watched a Disney movie with glasses of red wine perched in our hands. It was a good night. I’m sure we started that movie over at least four times because we kept getting carried away with jibber jabber. It was a great night in my opinion.

-S&M

Day IX: LA

July 23, 2008

I’ve been semi looking back at my journal entries and realizing how horrible my writing has become. Seriously dudes and dudettes. I got the English Department’s Senior award and now look at my writing. Great. I’m sorry readers; I’ll try to dictate my adventures in a more enjoyable manner.

We arrived in Slidell, Louisiana and went straight to Beth’s workplace. It was raining, but it was a welcomed change. Rain when it’s unbearably humid is a blessing. Our wet trio stumbled into the Honda Dealership at around 11:45pm. I spotted Beth right away. She looks the same as I remembered, and was donning a cute black button-up dress and heels instead of a bathing suit or jeans that Alaska called for.

Our little reunion was cute, but a little weird at first. We could both feel it. We hadn’t seen each other in a good three years, so I expected a little awkwardness. The dealership wasn’t busy, so we stayed a little bit with the pup and exchanged a few “So what have you been up to-s?” and “How’s the family-s?” Beth is the receptionist and did a fantastic job juggling our reminiscent conversation with answering Honda’s phone line. We arranged to meet up at a coffee shop down the lunch together during her lunch break.

The coffee shop was called “C C’s coffee,” and provided me and Bea with free wifi and comfortable chairs. Mayo was a real well behaved service dog in training while we uploaded, flickr’d, and blogged away. This girl sitting next to us wouldn’t stop staring at us! Granted Bea was on the phone with her doctor discussing her urinary tract infection and the continued symptoms, but still- uninhibited staring for prolonged periods of time makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

Beth met up with us and we headed over to this little place in a strip mall sort of area. It was cute, and not a chain food place.. and I don’t remember the name of it. Bea and I split this salad with avocado, artichokes, tomatoes, mixed greens, and onions in it. She got some grilled chicken on the side. I didn’t. It was good! I really enjoy avocado in my salad. I wonder where the concept of salad came from.. I’ll google that later I suppose.

Anyways, Beth and I caught up a lot. Mango was good and so he got Bea’s leftover chicken. Beth left to go back to work late and Mango got a little obedience training session. We worked on “stay,” “come,” “down,” and “dance.” He’s so bad at laying down on command! Real good at staying, real good at coming on commant.. but can’t lay down when I say “down!” I must have helped him do it at least thirty times with the aid of Bea and leftover pieces of chicken. I feel like he can do it, since he caught on to “come, dance,” and “stay” awful quick. Eh, in time little Chihuahua.

We went back to the coffee shop to take advantage of their wifi. Bea needed to find a doctor to take a pee sample from her to tell if she still has the bladder infection. I needed to find a pet store to buy some wet dog food to mix with my dry for the anorexic pup.

The pet store we went to was about two minutes away and had the sweetest pups for sale. There were two Dotsons, a Yorkie, two Shiatsus, and a Pomeranian. I fell in love with the black Dotson with soft curly haired ears and Bea fell in love with the shy white Pomeranian with fleas (we found out later). I hate when people buy pups from pet stores when shelters everywhere are overflowing with babes needing homes. Although playing with the pups made me realize how easy it is to fall into the “guilt” trap, as Rob says. They were precious.

We really had nothing to do, so back to the coffee shop we went to internetz. Once Beth got off work we met her and headed to her house. Her parents, her boyfriend and his parents, her dog Bear and her two cats Tinkerbelle and Tigger were home. We all had a delicious dinner of rice pilaf, sourdough bread, and kabobs. I had a veggie kabob. We kids sat at the kiddie table while the adults sat in the dining room. Dinner time discussions were hilarious. Sean/Shawn/Shaun is hilarious. Him and Beth have been together for almost three years now, and they’ve got great chemistry. We talked about LA (Louisiana) slang, including “Como Homo” (how gay), and “I’m Gucci” (I’m good).

Hah! “How are you?” –“Oh- I’m Gucci.” I guess that little town where Sean/Shawn/Shaun lived five hours north of New Orleans uses that phrase quite often. Let me paraphrase what he said:

“They use that term for everything, thinking they’re real cool. Most of them probably don’t even know what Gucci is!? There isn’t a Gucci store for miles and miles. They also think their lives are so gangsta and that they live in the ghetto. What ghetto? the cornfields?”

We busted up laughing. (All this time Mango and Bear were dishing it out to each other in the backyard.) Bear is this enormous yellow lab who’s about two years old and was found in a field by Brook’s (Beth’s older brother who’s in the Air Force right now) ex-girlfriend. Bear is a love dog, but know his own strength. Mango is too small to successfully hump Bear, so they ended up running around like crazies. After dinner I let the dogs in and Mango was SOAKING WET. It was like he jumped into a swimming pool. Turns out it was Bear’s slobber. Gross.

Beth’s dad had just quit his job (or something like that), so we all celebrated with him. Beth popped open the champagne and we toasted to the man and his freedom (or something like that).

We got to talking about my future for some reason, which of course= Bioko. Bioko island is an island off the coast of West Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. For those of you who don’t know, I’m going to Bioko to study and research sea turtles with a professor at Drexel, and grad and PhD students for 6 months. The beaches where the turtles lay their eggs are along the southern portion of the island. Malabo, the capital, is on the northern part along with the university and most of the population. I’ll be in a tent in a rainforest a stone’s throw from waterfalls, chameleons, and seven different species of drills and monkeys. I’m so flippin’ excited. My plane leaves on the 6^th of October. No Mango for 6 months L

Anyways.. turns out both Brook and his father have spent a decent amount of time on Bioko Island. I guess Beth’s dad worked/works for Shell and he went to the island to help oversee the construction of a natural gas plant on the northern part of the island. Um.. kind of the opposite of what I’m going there for. Wildlife research versus extracting natural resources. It kind of made me sad that we were both going there, but with completely different aims. Oh well, unfortunately it happens.

He kept telling me how I wasn’t going to like it there- that there are two really scary types of poisonous snakes and lots of humid jungle land everywhere. It was all I could do to hold my tongue. I mean, I love that kind of stuff. I love nature, I love dirt. Whatever. Different strokes for different folks, and I respect that. By the end of the night I have to admit I was feeling a bit beat up.

Oh, there was a little fiery talk about politics, too. Beth’s mom Sharon hates Obama and went on a little rant before Beth muffled her with a hand over her mouth. Get a little champagne in people and inhibitions are lowered. Personally, I enjoyed it. I like listening to people rant about something or someone they feel strongly about. We’re in the South. Personally, I don’t feel like I’m leaning towards anyone in the presidential race right now. I mean, I’ll be in Bioko in November anyways and am probably not going to bother with an absentee vote. This will probably drive my AP Government teacher nuts, but I honestly know jack shit about either of the candidates. Besides, the popular vote doesn’t matter nowadays anyways.

Bea and I retired to Brook’s room/ the guest bedroom before midnight after a hearty “Thanks for dinner” and a “I’ll see you in the morning.” After driving all night I was exhausted.

-S & M